OUTLINE plans for 550 homes, a 160-bed hotel and 3,000 sq metres of shops or offices in Warrington town centre have been given the go-ahead by borough council planning chiefs.
But the scheme for land bounded by Tanners Lane and Winwick Street has been scaled down from earlier proposals for the same site some two years ago which envisaged buildings of up to 25 storeys.
Highest buildings now proposed for the site would be 12 storeys.
Members of Warrington Borough Council’s development management committee approved the scheme, subject to the provision of affordable housing, a contribution from the developers towards travel planning, a local employment scheme and a mechanism to review the viability of the scheme.
The site is about 1.2 hectares in size and is close to the Kings Head public house and the Three Pigeons public house – both of which are Grade 2 Listed buildings and a number of other designated and none-designated heritage assets.
Officers told the committee the application proposed redevelopment of the site for a mixture of uses all of which were appropriate in a town centre location.
There would be no adverse impacts on the amenity of the area, highway safety or heritage assets.
A minimum of 10 per cent affordable housing would be included within the development and the scheme would make an important contribution to increasing the council’s supply of housing land.
